In the mid-1850's, just after losing her father in a supposed accident, an eight-year-old girl, Lottie Little, is given a most unusual gift for Christmas. It's a gazing ball that has been handed down through the generations from mother to daughter. Lottie and the gazing ball have special powers that evolve throughout the story. The history of the gazing ball catches up with Lottie and her family. An ancient band of assassins, the Malignigh, endeavor to steal the sphere and return it to the Brotherhood of the Dragon. Rudolph, a handsome but deadly wizard, leads the Malignigh and the Brotherhood in their nefarious attempts to regain the gazing ball. Lottie's adventure takes her and her family through the wilds of the Berkshire Hills to a place deep in the dead woods of Dark Ridge. In her quest to confront the evil of Rudolph and that of the Malignigh, Lottie finds her powers and that of the ball have gotten stronger. She, also, finds new allies and some one who she thought had been lost to her forever.